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DC Icons: (#02) Deadman by DC Collectibles

It’s DC Friday again and today I’m opening up another figure from DC Collectibles’ Icons line: Deadman is a character that I’ve really come to know and love thanks to some directed comic book reading over the last few years. A lot of the interest was sparked from picking up the DC Universe Classics figure and featuring it here way back in 2011. That was a great figure and it remains one of my favorites in the line to this day. How will DC Collectibles new version stack up? Let’s find out…

The figure comes in a window box similar to the first two Icons figures that I looked at, however, keep in mind that you do get a little variety in that each box’s deco matches the character. One thing I am enjoying about this line is that it’s running the gamut of DC lore and not just sticking to the New 52. This version of Deadman, for example, hails from Brightest Day. Not that the New 52 version is all that drastically different looking.

Deadman features his classic maroon costume with super high collar and a low-plunging v-neck on the front that partially exposes his chest. There isn’t a great deal of sculpting required for his outfit. The boots and gauntlets are painted in glossy red and there’s some nice texturing in the torso. The trademark “D” on his chest is part of the sculpt and neatly painted in white. Otherwise, the costume is pretty straight forward.

The portrait here is really nicely done. The features in the face are well defined and the expression sways between grim and serene. I hesitate to champion it too much, only because the head sculpt Mattel did on their DCUC version many years back is still so impressive to this day. In terms of what the character means to me, I think this one best suits him, but from a purely technical standpoint, that DCUC noggin is still the one to beat. I will say, however, that the white paint here fits better than the ashen gray paint on Mattel’s figure. The gray paint used for the lips and the black spray around the eyes looks very good too.

The articulation in this line has been consistent so far. Deadman’s arms feature rotating hinges in the shoulders and wrists, double hinges in the elbows, and swivels in the biceps. The legs are ball jointed in the hips, double hinged and double hinged in the knees. The ankles have hinges and lateral rockers. There’s an ab-crunch hinge and a ball joint in the torso and the neck is also ball jointed. I still wish these figures featured swivel cuts in the thighs, but that’s really my only complaint about the articulation.

Accessories! Deadman comes with clenched fists attached, but an extra pair of grabby hands. The extra hands were totally unnecessary, which makes it all the more cool that DCC included them. You also get a really creative translucent rubber mask that can be placed over other Icons figures to simulate his possession power. It actually looks unspeakably creepy when placed on another figure. Honestly, I mostly like this thing because of the originality behind it, rather than how well it works in practice.

I think it took a lot of balls for DC Collectibles to not only include Deadman as the second figure in this new line, but a version of him from before the New 52 reboot as well. Normal logic would have seen this initial wave stacked with Justice League A-listers, and yet here we are three figures in and two of them have been Mister Miracle and Deadman. I love it, mainly because it’s showing me that DCC is planning some deep universe building with this line and anyone from any era potentially could be fair game. This figure isn’t terribly flashy, but he looks fantastic and the articulation makes for lots of fun.